The PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc. (PA Wilds Center) has announced the recipients of the 2025 Champions of the PA Wilds Awards.
The 2025 Champions are:
- Artisan of the Year: Elk & Walnut Creative Corner
- Best Brand Ambassador: Rosie Marketing
- Business of the Year: The Brew Bank Brewing Co.
- Conservation Stewardship: Todd Deluccia
- Event of the Year: Art in the Wilds
- Great Design: Mechanistic Brewing
- Great Places: Lynn Hall
- Inspiring Youth: DuBois Area School District
- Outstanding Leader: Alan Lichtenwalner
- PA Wilds Planning Team Member of the Year: Candi Hand
The winners will be honored at the 2025 PA Wilds Dinner & Awards, to be held on Thursday, July 24. The theme for this year’s dinner is “Wild Yet Welcoming,” nodding to the Declaration of Principles for the Pennsylvania Wilds.
The Champion of the PA Wilds Awards celebrate individuals, organizations, communities and businesses that are making significant contributions to grow and sustainably develop the outdoor recreation economy and nature tourism in the Pennsylvania Wilds. There are nine award categories open for public nominations. Nominations for 2025 awards were due by April 7.
“These individuals, businesses, and organizations are what continue to make the PA Wilds region a fantastic place to live, work and travel. When someone goes above and beyond like these winners have done, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate them and elevate their stories. They truly embody the values of the PA Wilds Center,” said Beth Pellegrino, PA Wilds Center board member and Outreach Committee chairwoman. “We had an abundance of high-quality nominations this year, so our selection committee certainly had a difficult job! These winners are deserving of recognition and their moment in the spotlight.”
Registration is now open for the 2025 PA Wilds Dinner & Awards, which will be held at Brass 16823 in Bellefonte, Centre County, on July 24. The social hour and exhibitor displays begin at 3 p.m., followed by dinner and award presentations from 5-8 p.m.
Pre-registration is required by July 16 at PAWildsCenter.org/program. An early bird rate is available until June 24. Regular registration cost is $40 per ticket.
Inspiring Youth: DuBois Area School District – DuBois, Clearfield County
DuBois Area School District has been named the recipient of the 2025 PA Wilds Inspiring Youth Champion Award after three teachers were separately nominated for recognition. The Inspiring Youth Champion Award honors a person or organization that has made outstanding contributions to involve young people in the work to grow the region’s outdoor recreation economy and to conserve its unparalleled natural and cultural resource assets. Teacher Cory Sholes provides hands-on experiences to his middle school students and helps cultivate a love for nature, with programs such as the DuBois Area Middle School Outdoors Club, worm composter, aquaponics cart, inviting speakers from local conservation districts, and promoting sustainable practices within the school community. Teachers Robin Craig and Cheyenne Kanouff from DuBois High School’s art department teamed up with the PA Wilds Center to implement a youth entrepreneurship program to help their students explore product development for artisan businesses. All three educators are going above and beyond to expand programming at DuBois Area School District, helping students explore the diversity and opportunities of the region.
Business of the Year: The Brew Bank Brewing Company – Ridgway, Elk County
The Brew Bank Brewing Company has been named the recipient of the 2025 PA Wilds Business of the Year Champion Award, which honors a new or existing business that has taken bold steps to grow their business in a way that embodies what it means to marry conservation and economic development and to offer an authentic experience or product to visitors and residents. The Brew Bank turned a formerly empty bank building into a tourist attraction and local hot spot, with interesting architecture and history that visitors love learning about. Owner Jason Phipps’ personality, craft beers, food and dedication to his community of Ridgway have made the Brew Bank into a favorite for both locals and travelers alike.
Artisan of the Year Award: Elk & Walnut Creative Corner – Kane, McKean County
Elk & Walnut Creative Corner was selected as the recipient of the 2025 PA Wilds Artisan of the Year Champion Award, which honors a PA Wilds Juried Artisan who has gone above and beyond to use their medium and creativity to promote the region or help advance the Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania. Some of their most popular products are hand-painted 3D magnets or ornaments, crafted from multiple layers of thin pieces of wood to give detail and definition to the decorations. Elk & Walnut’s designs often showcase the beauty of the Pennsylvania Wilds, such as the rolling landscape of the Pine Creek Valley or the rugged ingenuity of Kinzua Bridge. Select Elk & Walnut products can be found at the PA Wilds Conservation Shops and also on the PA Wilds Marketplace at ShopThePAWilds.com.
Best Brand Ambassador: Rosie Marketing – Spring Creek, Warren County
Rosie Marketing has won the 2025 PA Wilds Best Brand Ambassador Champion Award, which recognizes an organization or individual who has made significant contributions to promoting and developing the Pennsylvania Wilds brand. Owned by Donnie Rosie, Rosie Marketing is a Creative Industries Partner member of the Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania and an approved Pennsylvania Wilds trademark licensee. Over the past few years, Rosie Marketing has partnered with the PA Wilds Center to provide photography and videography services for various events and programs, such as the BIG IDEA Contest, the Wilds Are Working: A Remote Lifestyle Experience, and the PA Wilds Dinner and Awards. These videos and photos celebrate the many entrepreneurs and individuals who make the PA Wilds a special place, while also highlighting the mission of the PA Wilds Center.
Conservation Stewardship: Todd Deluccia – Emporium, Cameron County
Todd Deluccia was selected as the recipient of the 2025 PA Wilds Conservation Stewardship Champion Award, which honors the best practices and achievements of an individual, business or organization that demonstrates a commitment to conservation and outstanding resource stewardship of the natural and cultural assets in the PA Wilds. The Cameron County Conservation District, under Todd Deluccia’s leadership, has made great strides with stream bank restoration, fish habitat enhancement, aquatic organism passage restoration, and acid mine drainage remediation efforts that have returned waterways in the county to a more natural state while reconnecting isolated brook trout and other aquatic species within the watershed. Extensive work has been done in the Sinnemahoning Creek watershed. Deluccia and his team also lead various conservation education events for students and adults alike.
Event of the Year: Art in the Wilds – Kane, McKean County
Art in the Wilds earned the 2025 PA Wilds Event of the Year Champion Award, which recognizes a festival, race, art show or other local or regional event in the PA Wilds which through its quality and authenticity and use of the PA Wilds brand has become a regional attraction that is having a positive economic and social impact on the area. Art in the Wilds, annually held in Kane, PA will be celebrating its 19th year bringing the only outdoor juried fine arts and crafts show to the PA Wilds. Art in the Wilds selects 40 artists each year to be featured throughout Evergreen Park which provides the opportunity for artist and patron interaction. Artists say they find a strong sense of community and hospitality shown from the committee, volunteers and attendees, leading to PA Wilds ambassadors among the artists communities. Co-founders Marilyn Blackmore and Julie Cleland, along with Artistic Director Merry Ryding, organize the event each year, providing a venue for artists and artisans from many states to display and sell their artwork, as well as a comfortable place for families in the region to interact with the artists, and purchase fine art.
Great Design: Mechanistic Brewing – Clarion, Clarion County
Mechanistic Brewing in Clarion is the winner of the 2025 PA Wilds Great Design Champion Award, which honors an individual, business or organization that has done outstanding work to preserve, protect or enhance an area’s rural community character and to promote the use and understanding of the PA Wilds Design Guide. Mechanistic Brewing is an example of smart design, turning an old, unused garage into a thriving community space that celebrates both history and creativity. By incorporating rustic elements like wood, metal, and vintage materials in a way that feels both timeless and modern, the brewery wonderfully blends rural industrial design with eclectic touches, preserving the area’s unique character while reducing blight in the community. According to owners Chelsea and George Alexander, the name Mechanistic is based on “beer as a mechanism to bring people together and build community.” Chelsea and George worked closely with local Clarion artist Karl Jacobson while designing the space, and Karl helped weave together their ideas, tying George’s love of chemistry together with an apothecary vibe. Mechanistic Brewing’s combination of thoughtful design, community focus, and chic design showcases the power of repurposing spaces and creating places that bring people together while fostering a strong sense of community.
Great Places: Lynn Hall – Port Allegany, McKean County
Lynn Hall earned the 2025 PA Wilds Great Places Champion Award, which honors innovative asset development and promotion that have worked together to create an excellent new or revamped sustainable tourism destination within the PA Wilds. Now in its 90th year, Port Allegany’s Lynn Hall is a unique blend of history, early organic modern architecture, and natural beauty, drawing tourists to the Pennsylvania Wilds from all over the United States, Canada and Europe. Visitors stay in authentically restored mid-century accommodations, blending historical charm with modern comforts. Designed in the 1930s by Walter J. Hall and his architect son Raymond Viner Hall, with ties to Frank Lloyd Wright and Fallingwater, Lynn Hall served as a restaurant, dance hall, architectural offices and family residence. It became a popular social hub in the region and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. New owners Adam Grant and Rick Sparkes began restoration of Lynn Hall in 2017, bringing it back to its former glory.
Outstanding Leader: Alan Lichtenwalner – Emporium, Cameron County
Alan Lichtenwalner has been named the 2025 PA Wilds Outstanding Leader Champion Award recipient. Lichtenwalner’s career with state parks has spanned 26.5 years in various field management positions, coming to the Park Region 1 Office and the PA Wilds as Assistant Regional Manager in 2007. In 2011 he was promoted to Regional Manager, where he quickly understood the significance of these PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) state park investments to the overall vision of the PA Wilds Conservation Landscape to establish the region as a world-class destination for outdoor recreation adventure travel. A majority of the state parks in Region 1 are within the PA Wilds boundary and are operated and skillfully cared for by a cadre of dedicated staff that Lichtenwalner manages. He assumed this role at a time when a number of DCNR’s outdoor recreation destinations were being developed in the region, including the Kinzua Bridge State Park Visitor Center and Skywalk and the Elk Country Visitor Center. Lichtenwalner believes that the region’s public lands play a critical role in growing the outdoor recreation economy in this very rural area of the Commonwealth. Lichtenwalner has also embraced the value of public-private partnerships for carrying out DCNR’s mission. No better example of this exists than his vision of partnering with the PA Wilds Center for providing a retail shopping experience at Kinzua Bridge State Park. Lichtenwalner will be retiring in July 2025.
PA Wilds Planning Team Member of the Year: Candi Hand – Coudersport, Potter County
Candi Hand is the recipient of the 2025 PA Wilds Planning Team Member of the Year Champion Award, which honors individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the work of the PA Wilds Planning Team. Candi, the Director of Testing Services for the Potter County Education Council (PCEC), has been an indispensable member of the PA Wilds Planning Team leadership group for many years. Her ability to coordinate a large and diverse group of members and her dedication to the Planning Team’s mission has been unmatched. Many PWPT projects would not be possible without her thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Her attention to detail in her organizational and logistical support of the Planning Team help ensure that the PWPT’s ideas are put into action. As Candi prepares to step down from her role with the Planning Team at the end of 2025, we celebrate the extraordinary impact of her administrative excellence. Her legacy of dedication, precision, and professionalism will continue to benefit the Planning Team for years to come.
